A Sunderland bid for John McGinn would put Hibernian in a “difficult position” according to their manager Neil Lennon.

With their own midfielder in demand, the Black Cats have been linked with a move for the Scottish Premiership side’s player of the year McGinn. Leeds United, Celtic and Rangers have also been credited with an interest.

The Scotland international is rated at £3m and if an offer comes in at that level, Hibs would have a tricky decision to make, according to their manager.

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“John’s got a year left on his contract and that puts us in a difficult position, but we’ll see what the future brings — we can’t predict what’s going to happen,” he told the Scottish Sun.

“If we can’t keep key players then we look to build again.”

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Lennon has also not given up on re-signing another midfielder linked to Sunderland, Dylan McGeuch, who has run down his Easter Road contract.

Having spent almost all his football career north of the border – apart from 23 appearances for Hartlepool United in 2004-05 – the Scottish market is where most of Ross’ knowledge lies, although he is wary of not overloading his squad with players who do not know League One.

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Tony Coton has been linked with a return to his former club if, as expected, the chief scout falls victim to the cutbacks which will inevitably follow after they missed out on promotion to the Premier League.

Back-to-back relegations are likely to force a huge turnover of the squad Ross inherited. A strange historical reluctance to loan their younger players out mean even the junior members of the squad have little experience of English football’s third tier.

Sunderland are understood to have had three bids each for central midfielders Paddy McNair and Didier Ndong but such will be the turnover of players this summer, Ross will need recruits in every department of the squad.